Blade Trooper
Blade Trooper Affiliation: Novus Type Heavy Infantry, Melee Infantry, Inorganic Health: 400 Armor: Novus Infantry Heavy Movement Type: Waterwalker Speed: 1.3/2.08 Sight Range: 155 Cost: 650RM Time: 0:18 Popcap: 3 Produced From: Robotic Assembly Plant (Requires Blade Assembly upgrade) Special Ability: Blackout Bomb, Duplicate, Flow Weapon: Energy Blades (firing arch of 135 degrees and an AoE of 40) Damage: Energy Blades: 12 Upgrades: Clone Stability (Nanotech 1), Stealth Upgrades (Flow 2), Nanite Purification (Flow 3), Rapid Flow (Flow 1), Nanite Refinement (Nanotech 4) "''Blade Trooper ready." - Typical Blade Trooper response The Novus '''Blade Trooper' is the heaviest infantry unit in Novus' army. General The Blade Trooper appears as a humaniod robot and shares certain design aspects of Viktor. The unit's head appears very similar while on its back is a single thruster like those found on the larger mech. The robot's arms terminate in large panels tipped with energy blade weapons - hence the unit's name. The legs of the Blade Trooper are rather thin and, oddly, have no feet. Blade Troopers were designed by The Founder as a counter to the Hierarchy's armored Grunt and Brute soldiers, who were superior to the lowly Ohm Robot. The end result is a very mobile infantry unit that can easily slice and dice through most ground targets, but, by design, is incapable of firing on Walker crown sockets. To improve their power, Blade Troopers can create two "clones" from Nanites that can assist in battle. Campaign In the Novus Campaign, Blade Troopers are first made available to Novus while Mirabel and Vertigo where collecting pieces to the Novus Home Portal in Eastern Siberia. Later, they are made available to help in a mission to infiltrate the Hierarchy command ship and several captured units assisted Mirabel in her escape from the ship after it was discovered that Kamal Re'x had sabotaged the vessel. During the Hierarchy Campaign, four Blade Troopers appear as part of the Novus force defending their Egyptian stronghold, but these units where destroyed by Orlok and his soldiers. Later, some units attempt to assault Nufai's base to destroy the Purifier, but again they where incapable of stopping the alien commander. Tactical Application Blade Troopers are excellent units for dealing turrets, structures, infantry, and even light vehicles when in groups. A popular tactic is to research their cloaking ability and use it to sneak past enemy turrets to assassinate construction units, Masari Architects in particular. The Blade Trooper's Blackout bomb makes them ideal for killing heros or wrecking havoc to enemy forces, who are unselectable while within the blackout bomb's effect. Thanks to their Duplicate ability, Blade Troopers can be used to soften up turrets or enemy heros without losing the actual units, making them very cost effective. The duplicate ability can also be used to distract enemy units while the real unit escapes or to increase overall firepower. If in a Novus mirror match, use the Blade Troopers to sneak past the buildings to the Flow Generators since they can take it out in under 2 minutes Special Abilities Blackout Bomb Effect: The targeted area is covered by the fog of war for the opponent for 8 seconds, preventing the opponent from issuing commands there Range: 100 Radius: 130 Cooldown: 0:45 Duplicate Effect: Spawns 2 Blade Trooper Clones for 15 seconds which behave like a Blade Trooper except they cannot flow, use a speed boost, or activate special abilities Cooldown: 0:35 (from the dissipation of the Clones) Special: If the spawning unit is destroyed or sold, the Clones dissipate prematurely Upgrades Clone Stability Effect: Clones last 60% longer (for 24 seconds total) Method: Research Nanotech Branch Suite 1 Nanite Purification Effect: Harmful status effects are lost when the flow network is used Method: Research Flow Branch Suite 3 Nanite Refinement Effect: Price reduced by 25% Method: Research Nanotech Branch Suite 4 Rapid Flow Effect: Flow speed increased by 50% Method: Research Flow Branch Suite 1 Stealth Upgrades Effect: Becomes cloaked Method: Research Flow Branch Suite 2 Damage vs. Armor Energy Blade Tips and Triva *One Blade Trooper is given a designation (Unit 29-11) and serves to teach the player how to handle units in the Xbox 360 tutorial. * Cloaked Blade Troopers will not attack automatically when given a normal move order, presumably to avoid breaking cloak. * Blade Troopers can use the Duplicate ability to perform damaging harassment without endangering themselves. * Blade Troopers are very handy in harassing enemy Novus players, thanks to their cloaking upgrade and ability to use enemy flow networks against them. Unit Quotes Some quotes may not be used ingame. * Blade Trooper ready. * I am programmed for battle. * Engaging blades *chainsaws revving* * Blades active. * Ready to slice and dice. * Let's be inhospitable. * Cutting through the problem. * Let me explain it to them. * I will engage the enemies. * That one. * Cutting them down to size. * This one's mine. * Come closer. * Utilizing the Fourth Law.(Reference to the novel I-Robot) * I will be there. * With all haste. * Relocating. * Take me to battle. * Inevitable. * Focusing on the destination. * Immediately. * Leaving formation. * Charging to coordinates. * Objective override accepted. * Duplicating now. * Increasing my numbers. * Deploying Blackout Bomb. * Turning off the lights. * Eliminating visual stimulus. * Power to jets. * Go. * Accelerating to optimal speed. * Faster! Category:Novus Units